Senate Order 192 (Murray Motion) on Departmental and Agency Contracts for the 2016 Calendar Year

This page provides information about the department's Senate Order report for agency contracts signed.

Page last updated: 01 March 2017

On 20 June 2001, the Senate agreed to an Order requiring Ministers to table a letter, stating that all The Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 (Cth) (PGPA Act) agencies falling under their responsibility have placed on the internet a list of contracts of $100,000 (GST inclusive) or more which are current or entered into during the previous twelve months.

In 2002 and 2007, the Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Public Administration (the Committee) completed two inquiries into the operation of the Senate Order. These inquiries resulted in changes to the Senate Order reporting requirements.

In 2014, as part of a further inquiry into the operation of the Senate Order, the Committee recommended that Non-Corporate Commonwealth Entities (NCCEs) could satisfy the requirements of the Senate Order as it relates to procurement contracts by reference to AusTender.

These recommendations were reflected in the revised Senate Order. From 1 July 2015, reports will be generated by the Department of Finance and published on the AusTender website on behalf of the Department and can be accessed by the Senate Order button.

The Senate Order letters must be tabled within two months of the end of the reporting period to which the listing(s) relate. For financial year listings, the letter must be tabled by 31 August, and in the case of calendar year listings, 28 February (29 February in a leap year).

The Order specifies that the contract listings are to indicate:

the relevant reporting period;

the estimated cost of complying with the order and method used to make this estimate;

the following details for each contract over $100,000 (GST inclusive) entered into by the agency which has not been fully performed, or which was entered into during the previous 12 months:

Confidentiality

For the purposes of this list, “other requirements of confidentiality” means where there are any other requirements, which require the provisions of the contract itself, or parts of it, to be kept confidential.

Confidentiality clauses of a general nature are included in all Department of Health standard form contracts, i.e. they all contain clauses requiring the contractor to maintain confidentiality of Commonwealth confidential information and to protect personal information.

Please note: requests by members of the public for access to government information, including details of any of the contracts listed in Senate Order 192 will be considered in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 1982.

Costs to comply

The total cost of compliance for the Department for the 2016 calendar year compilation was estimated at $7,543.23. The method used to calculate this estimate was based on the nominal salary level of each staff member involved, the hours dedicated to the task and associated on-costs.

Contracts information

In the 2016 Calendar Year (1 January 2016 to 31 December 2016) the Department identified 6,973 Grant contracts with individual values of over $100,000 (GST inclusive).